


Hokeo

by Calacious



Category: General Hospital, Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Other, Slash, cross species, sea!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:19:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/369921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/pseuds/Calacious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason's a shark in love, but that's not the problem. The problem is that he's in love with a seagull. Banished from Port Charles' Shark's Cove, Jason makes his way from the cold waters of the East Coast, to the warmer waters of the Hawaiian Islands and learns that love can be very complicated and yet very worthwhile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hokeo

**Author's Note:**

> While this may seem like an odd animal pairing, there are numerous books and photos, as well as videos, out there which capture odd animal pairings (a tiger raising piglets; a snake snuggling with a hamster). My cat, Mr. Crackers, enjoyed hanging out with deer while he was alive.
> 
> Nature sometimes surprises us with turning a blind eye toward differences that humans can’t seem to look beyond.   
> Some characters may seem OOC, and some might be underdeveloped (Steve and Danny – I’m leaving the telling of their tale to a friend). 
> 
> With that said, I hope that you are able to successfully suspend disbelief as you dip into this story.

Hokeo – a verb meaning to love secretly

Seagulls and sharks didn’t generally get along with each other. It wasn’t that they didn’t like each other or anything like that, but, by and large, they didn’t have much dealing with each other. Unless a wayward seagull swooped a little too low and an ornery shark was just close enough to the surface of the water to snatch her out of the air.

 

And that’s kind of how it went for Spinelli. Except, well, the shark didn’t eat him. Not straight away, and not even after they’d gotten to know each other. The shark, Spinelli called him, Stone Cold, was not too bright, well, by seagull standards anyway. And, he didn’t like how Spinelli prattled on and on, always talking non-stop. He said it was enough to drive a sane shark to fresh water.

 

“Stone Cold,” Spinelli called out over the choppy ocean, hoping to rouse his friend.

 

The sun was just beginning to rise, the gold of it glinting off the surface of the water. It was a moment that Spinelli wanted to share with someone other than Mad Mad Maxie, the prettiest seagull on the East Coast, or her counterpart, Meddlesome Mattie.

 

“Ha ha,” Mad Mad Maxie cuckooed, her voice causing Spinelli’s feathers to ruffle. “Look at that dunderhead, calling out to his pet shark.” She shook her head and smiled coyly when Meddlesome Mattie joined in on the laughter.

 

“He isn’t a pet,” Spinelli defended, his keen eyes searching the waters for the scarred hide of the shark he considered to be his very best friend.

 

Stone Cold never teased him like others of his own kind did. Even though he didn’t particularly like it when Spinelli talked at length about something, he patiently listened, and only interrupted when he had a question.

 

“He’s my friend,” Spinelli said, his heart sinking when there was no sign of Stone Cold.

 

Meddlesome Mattie shook his head and clucked.

 

“Sharks and seagulls can’t be friends,” he said in a voice that Spinelli supposed was meant to sound sage, but came off as rather self-indulgent.

 

“I know, right,” Mad Mad Maxie agreed, nodding her head in Meddlesome Mattie’s direction. They were both perched on roosts situated directly across from each other, as per their usual morning routine. Mad Mad Maxie was preening her feathers, and Meddlesome Mattie was pretending not to watch.

 

“Sharks eat seagulls; it’s only a matter of time before your ‘friend’ eats you Spinelli, so you’d best wise up now.” Her voice was sharp and for a moment Spinelli was afraid that she was going to fly up and peck him.

 

Forlorn, Spinelli swooped back toward his own roost, which was, much to his chagrin, located kitty-corner from the pair who were now ogling each other in earnest. There was a time when Spinelli had fancied Mad Mad Maxie, but then, out of nowhere Meddlesome Mattie had flown in and stolen her from right under his beak which was a much finer beak than his own. Meeting Stone Cold, and being scared half to death, is what had snapped him out of his melancholy.

 

Spinelli settled on his roost, trying not to let his disappointment show, knowing that his fellow birds would make fun of him for it. They weren’t the only birds who heckled him for his friendship, but they were by far the worst offenders, and their constant barbs cut the deepest.

 

“What’s this I hear about sharks and seagulls?” a deep voice resonated from behind them, startling Mad Mad Maxie up into the air and causing Meddlesome Mattie to fall completely off his perch and into the water where he floundered.

 

“Stone Cold!” Spinelli couldn’t keep the joy out of his voice even as Meddlesome Mattie batted his wings in the water, a look of panic on his face as the shark smiled at him – his mostly white teeth glistening bright and razor sharp in the sun’s first rays.

 

“You came,” Spinelli hopped off his roost and swooped onto Stone Cold’s nose. Completely oblivious to Meddlesome Mattie’s duress and Mad Mad Maxie’s squawks of warning, he greeted his friend with an affectionate peck on the snout.

 

“Of course I came,” the shark said. “I promised I would, and I always keep my promises.”

 

“Well, um, yeah, I, that is, the Jackal has had little to no experience with promise keepers,” said Spinelli, lowering his head a little out of embarrassment.

 

“Little wonder with the company you keep.” Stone Cold winked at Meddlesome Mattie, causing the bird to sputter as he inadvertently swallowed some seawater.

 

“Yes, well.” Spinelli attempted a smile, but frowned as he considered those he’d considered to be his friends.

 

They’d turned their tails on him as soon as he’d told them about Stone Cold. Many had done worse than just laugh at him; he’d lost more than his fair share of feathers in the end and had only escaped being banned from the Port Charles Seagull Community Roost because of the kindness of The Valkyrie whom nobody dared to cross.

 

“Cheer up,” Stone Cold said.

 

He might be a cold-blooded shark, but he could tell when his friend was feeling down, and wished that he could make a snack out of the bird Spinelli had aptly nicknamed Meddlesome Mattie. The bird’s bones would probably stick in his craw though. Probably best to stick to Spinelli’s edict of no revenge on his behalf. As he watched Mad Mad Maxie help Meddlesome Mattie out of the water, he wished that he’d never made that promise.

 

“Before you know it, we’ll be in the warm waters of Hawaii,” Stone Cold said, reminding Spinelli of their upcoming trip.

 

Spinelli wasn’t the only one who no longer seemed to fit into his community. Stone Cold was having a hard time of it beneath the waters. The atmosphere of Port Charles Shark’s Cove was turbulent at best. And with Sonny, the head shark, declaring that he either eat Spinelli or leave, Jason, as he was known in his community, decided to leave. There was no way he was going to eat the best thing that had happened to him since Sam, the shark he’d thought he’d be spending the rest of his life with left him for a younger, less scarred shark.

 

It was strange how it had happened, how he’d fallen in love with a bird and become an outcast amongst his fellow sharks. He’d been Sonny’s right fin. The enforcer of his ironclad rules, he’d taken immense pleasure in executing his boss’ will on any and all creatures that Sonny had set his cold-hearted sights on. He enjoyed his work, liked making lesser sharks tremble and fish quake or beg to be eaten. It gave him a sense of pride and self-satisfaction, and he knew that it made Sonny happy.

 

He strived to do all that he could for Sonny because the shark boss had taken him in and nursed him to health when he was lost and alone after a boating accident left him without any memory of who he was. Sonny had then made him his second in command, even though there were other, more powerful sharks who were better suited to the position.

 

“Pup, they ain’t got no sense of loyalty,” Sonny had said, “sure, they’re tough, they’re mean and they got years on you, but you, you’ve got moxie.”

 

Jason had been proud and had made a name for himself amongst those who lived within the cool waters of Port Charles Bay. He was a shark to be feared and had the battle scars to prove it.

 

His first thought when he’d seen Spinelli swoop low that fateful day was to swim up to the surface and catch the bird in his mouth and toy with it a bit. He enjoyed listening to the squeals and squawks of pain, the inevitable pleading for mercy before he snapped his powerful jaws shut around whatever hapless bird had flown into his path. His sharp teeth would slice clear through the feathers and bone, and tear into the meaty flesh. The fresh blood would warm him.

 

Warmth was something that, even though Sonny scoffed at it, he craved. It was what kept him circling just beneath the surface of the waters on sunny days, what caused him to prey on birds more than others of his kind. Sonny thought it unnatural, but he couldn’t seem to help it, and it was the one thing he disobeyed his boss on. And the one thing that he wouldn’t let Sonny dictate for him.

 

In the end, it was this craving for warmth that drove him from the community he loved, and Sonny, who had grown to be like a father to him. If the sun hadn’t been shining that day, if Sam hadn’t left him for some new shark that had blown into the community from some distant ocean, if Spinelli hadn’t been so damned entertaining, he would never have been forced to make this choice – his family or a forbidden love.

 

He wouldn’t say that it was love at first sight. Far from it. He truly had set his mind on eating the bird, but then Spinelli had opened his beak and, instead of pleading for his life, he’d asked him a question and everything had gone downhill from there.

 

“Yes, warmer waters await us,” Spinelli mused aloud, breaking into Jason’s thoughts. “Er, rather, you. Other than an occasional dip into the ocean to go after a particularly wily fish, I don’t have much cause to be in the icy cold waters of our northern shores and doubt I will have much cause to bandy about in the warmer waters of the Hawaiian Islands.”

 

“You never know,” Jason said, “you might find a reason or two to take more than just an occasional dip in the ocean’s waters when we get to Hawaii.”

 

“You two are fools,” Mad Mad Maxie chirruped, she had her back to them and was helping Meddlesome Mattie straighten his feathers. “Talking about going off to Hawaii, like either of you will be accepted there any better than you are here. You’ll not only be the laughingstock of Port Charles, but of the Pacific Islands as well.”

 

“Spinelli will be plucked and his friend,” Meddlesome Mattie shivered with cold as he spoke, “will be gutted. It’s the way of those who live in the south.” Meddlesome Mattie’s voice held a note of authority that made Spinelli’s feathers tingle with fear.

 

Jason snorted. “And how would you know, you useless bag of feathers?”

 

Meddlesome Mattie sneezed and turned to look at Spinelli. “Spinelli, you’re a great bird, it’s just you have poor taste with the company that you keep. Lose this clown and we’ll be your friends, me and Maxie. You won’t be lonely and won’t need to make friends with the underwater dwellers. Other birds will like you better if you do that, and if you stop talking nonsense.”

“Yes,” Mad Mad Maxie agreed. “Please Spinelli, do it for me. Get rid of this…this monster and be normal like us.”

 

Jason let out a low growl, and, in a whisper that carried up to the birds on their single roost, said, “Just give me the word Spinelli and you won’t have to hear another foul word from either of them ever again.”

 

“Violence is not the answer Stone Cold,” Spinelli chastised. “Mad Mad Maxie and Meddlesome Matt, thank you for the kind offer of friendship that you have extended, but I see no other recourse than to follow my friend. He has been kind and has been the truest friend I’ve ever had, and even though we’re of a different species, he is the only one who understands me.  ‘Spurned by his own kind, the lowly gull seeks the solace of his soul in others.’”

 

“There you go, always quoting that dingbat poet, Shakey, stupid name if you ask me,” Mad Mad Maxie tittered, “and calling Matt and I those ridiculous names, if you’d just speak like a normal…”

 

Mad Mad Maxie never got to finish her sentence. Promise or not, Jason couldn’t listen to one more unkindly squawk from the haughty gull. With a mighty swoosh, he rammed his tail into the pole where she and Meddlesome Mattie stood perched together and they came tumbling down in a mass of scattered feathers and ungainly squeals of fear and protest.

 

Spinelli, unsettled by the sudden movement of his friend, flew upward just Sonny sprang up out of the water, his sleek, black body arcing in the air as he reached upward, his teeth snapping shut on a single tail feather. Undeterred by the near miss, Sonny plummeted down to the depths of the ocean and soared upward, building momentum as he swam. His eyes, cold and flat, were focused on Spinelli, the bane of his life, the bird who had stolen his partner’s heart without his permission.

 

Sonny was so focused on capturing Spinelli and ending Jason’s obsession with the bird, that he didn’t notice Jason moving up beneath him until it was too late and his former friend’s sharp teeth tore a chunk from his side. He bellowed in pain and disbelief as Jason turned around and came at him with his mouth open wide, teeth gleaming in what little light the ocean allowed within her waters.

 

Another chunk of flesh was torn from his side, and then another. None of the wounds were deep enough to kill, but as Jason turned once more, Sonny could see death in the other shark’s eyes. Gone was his adopted son, the shark he’d groomed to take over his leadership when his time was up. Jason was a shark reborn, and there was vengeance in his eyes.

 

Calculating his odds of surviving another encounter with the angry shark, Sonny did the only thing that he could, he dove deeper, leaving the bird behind and surrendering Jason to his fate.

 

“I wash my fins of you. You two lovebirds can have each other,” Sonny called out when he was a safe enough distance away.

 

Jason circled above, his clear, blue eyes boring spears into him until he turned and left. Sonny felt the other shark’s eyes on him even when he could no longer see the surface of the ocean.

 

“Spinelli, are you okay?” Jason asked as soon as he felt that it was safe to surface – that Sonny wouldn’t return and try to kill the bird again.

 

Spinelli was sitting on his roost, shaking. The other two roosts were empty. Jason searched the open waters for the missing gulls, finding only white and gray feathers floating on the water. His heart flip-flopped as he considered the possible ramifications of what he was seeing, but then he heard the two troublemakers.

 

“Spinelli, look at what you did. You brought that nasty creature up from the sea, he could have eaten Matt and me; did you ever stop to consider what you are doing to those around you? You put us in danger. If you want to put yourself in danger, fine, but don’t you dare put me and Matt in danger too. Do you hear me?” Mad Mad Maxie was hovering just above Spinelli, screeching and glaring at him.

 

She swooped downward and plucked a feather out of Spinelli’s chest. The downhearted seagull did nothing to defend himself.

 

“I’m sorry,” Spinelli said, and Jason’s heart ached for the bird.

 

“Yes, well you should be,” Mad Mad Maxie trilled. “You know what Spinelli? I don’t care what Carly, your Valkyrie, says. Your mysterious sway with the Queen of the seagulls has no bearing on us, you aren’t welcome here anymore. Take your pet shark and leave and never return.”

 

He didn’t understand why Spinelli liked the two scalawags, why he put so much stock into what they thought of him. He wished that Spinelli would tell them off or that he could go back on his promise and teach the two ne’er-do-wells a lesson about manners. But, in spite of their mistreatment of him, Jason knew that if anything had happened to either of them, Spinelli would be heartbroken.

 

“Come here Spinelli,” Jason said, his voice soft, cajoling as he willed the bird to come to him so that he could ease some of his pain. Things would be so much easier if he was a bird or if Spinelli was a shark.

 

Spinelli flitted down to him, his eyes darting all around, fearful of being snatched up by Sonny, or maybe attacked again by Mad Mad Maxie who had dropped Spinelli’s feather into the ocean and then flown up to be with Meddlesome Mattie. Spinelli relaxed, fractionally, when he was sitting on Stone Cold’s outstretched pectoral fin. Stone Cold had saved him from Sonny and would keep him safe from harm.

 

“You’re safe now, I’m sorry about your _friends_ ,” the word stuck in his throat, but he knew that Spinelli still saw the two pests as his friends, even though they had attacked him.

 

“Thank you,” Spinelli said.

 

He was still trembling with fear, his feathers tickling Jason’s fin. Jason was content to float with just his fin above the water, soaking in the sun and the warmth of Spinelli’s body resting against his. He kept them moving, slowly, further and further away from the roosts. Spinelli didn’t seem to be paying any attention, and Jason cared about nothing other than getting the both of them to safety.

 

In spite of the fact that Sonny was known to be a coward – he always had Jason do his dirty work, and generally liked to work in a pack – Jason wouldn’t feel safe until they were out of Port Charles Bay and well on their way to Hawaii. He needed to take care of Spinelli, make sure that Sonny never set his sights on the bird again.

 

The strain of staying so close to the surface and supporting Spinelli was taking its toll on him, making him feel sluggish. They’d both be much safer when Spinelli took off into the air, but he wasn’t going to rush him, not in his grief.

 

“There’s nothing to keep me here now,” Spinelli said, sighing.

 

“You’ve got me,” Jason said. “You’ll always have me.”

 

“Will I?” Spinelli asked.

 

“Yes,” Jason answered. “Come with me to Hawaii, I feel it in my cartilage that that’s where we’re meant to go.”

 

“We?”

 

This was not the first time Spinelli had asked the question, and while Jason was getting angry (he should only have to tell the bird how he felt about him once, not repeat himself over and over again) he knew that Spinelli needed the reassurance. Especially given how poorly he was treated by those of his own kind.

 

“Yes, we, Spinelli, I,” Jason hesitated, unsure of how his declaration of love would be taken by the bird and fearful of rejection or ridicule.

 

He’d kept his love for Spinelli a secret from the bird, knowing that it was something which marked him as different. He didn’t want to put that kind of burden on the bird. Besides, if Mad Mad Maxie and Meddlesome Mattie had gotten wind of his love for the bird, they would’ve heckled Spinelli non-stop.

 

He was a shark, a rather unpleasant shark who had killed and would kill again. It was part of his genetic makeup; some of his aggression was frowned upon by the other sharks of Port Charles. If it hadn’t been for Sonny’s initial acceptance of him, he would have struck out on his own a long, long time ago.

 

He wasn’t like the other sharks in Port Charles Shark’s Cove – he wasn’t a Tiger like his rival, Johnny, or a Shortfin Mako like Sonny. He was a shark out of his own waters, and like he’d told Spinelli, he felt, in his very makeup, that he was meant to be in different waters.

 

The cold of Port Charles Bay wasn’t his true home. The only explanation for his love of warmth, so despised by Sonny and the others, was that, during the accident which stole his memory, he was transplanted north. He ached for warmer, more tropical waters and was happy that Spinelli had agreed to join him, even if the bird doubted his intent.

 

He hated what Mad Mad Maxie and Meddlesome Mattie had done to Spinelli. They’d undermined his self-esteem, plucked and plucked at his tender spirit until he no longer felt valuable. Jason vowed to do everything in his power to fix the damage those two henpecks had done to Spinelli.

 

“Spinelli, I love you,” Jason grabbed courage by the throat and said the words that would change the course of his future for either good or bad.

 

“You’re a good friend,” Spinelli said, “and I am grateful for your kindness, but, Stone Cold, you can’t possibly mean that you _love_ me.”

 

“Yes I can, and I do,” Jason insisted. “I love you, and I was banished from my home because of that love for you.”

 

“Eat me,” the words rushed out of Spinelli’s beak, taking Jason by surprise. “It’s the only way you can go back to your home amongst the sharks, where you belong. Or better yet, Stone Cold, snap my neck and bring me back as a peace offering to Sonny, maybe he’ll take you back. I’m sure that he’ll take you back.”

 

“I don’t want to go back,” Jason’s words were sharp to mask the pain that Spinelli’s words, the bird’s rejection of his love, had caused him. “I don’t want to offer you, dead or alive, as some sort of gift of peace to Sonny. He’s a bigot and a hypocrite. I’m not going back, but I won’t get in your way if you want to go back.” _My heart will break._

“I’m sorry Stone Cold, I never meant to cause you so much pain,” Spinelli said. “If only you’d killed me when we first met, none of this would have happened.”

 

“And I’d be forced to live the rest of my life an unhappy, bitter shark. Spinelli you’ve helped me to see the world in a new light, and shown me how to love again. Without you, I’d be lost, floundering alone in the sea. Spinelli, I love you. I don’t care that you’re a seagull and I’m a shark. I love you, and I don’t even care if you love me back because, even if you don’t, I will still love you. Please come with me, let me show you how much I love you,” Jason begged.

 

“But,” Spinelli squawked in protest, “that’s impossible. It’s impossible. I’m not worthy of your love. I’m a lowly bird; you’re a powerful shark, a king of the ocean. You can’t possibly love _me_.”

 

“Impossible or not, I can and I do and I will,” Jason promised. “My love for you is not open to discussion. It is a fact, take it or leave it.” _Please take it, say you love me too._

 

Spinelli hopped off of Jason’s pectoral, and Jason’s heart sunk as the bird flapped his wings and took to flight. He soared high above the waters, circling overhead. Jason watched until the bird was nothing more than a little dot of white against the cerulean sky, and then he sunk beneath the surface of the water and swam south with a heavy heart.

 

He meandered along the icy waters, cold and miserable. His broken heart ached. He longed to hear Spinelli call for him, but one day turned into five and then ten without the familiar lilting sound of the bird’s voice in song. Spinelli had left him, abandoned him because he couldn’t return his love. The bird thought his love a joke or maybe he felt as those like Sonny did, that sharks and birds shouldn’t mix.

 

Warmer waters brought him no joy. Even spotting those of his own kind, pale yellow or brown in color, did not stir him. He stayed on the outskirts of the various communities – a loner just passing through. As he neared the Hawaiian Islands, his heart skipped a beat. Something seemed familiar about these waters.

 

A memory, old and faded with time and damaged by injury, surfaced in his mind. His mother, Monica, a lemon shark, like him, admonishing him to be careful and not get too close to the humans and their cursed contraptions. He, being a young shark, hadn’t listened to his mother’s advice, and he’d ended up far from home, learning how to kill and following the orders of a mob boss.

 

Lost in thought, Jason didn’t even know what hit him until it was too late and he was reminded once again of the accident which had torn him from his home, and his family, ten years ago. Except this time, he never lost consciousness. He thrashed and fought against the ropes that slipped around him and the bonds only grew tighter as he struggled to get out of them.

 

By the time he’d exhausted himself with his struggles, he was ready to accept his fate. He was an orphan, an exile and had been abandoned, not once, but twice, by those he loved. He was ready to die.

 

In spite of his exhaustion and the cuts he sustained from his struggle within the ropes, he continued to fight. He was determined that he would not die a coward, bowing to the human’s wishes to subdue him like he’d seen happen to a few sharks in Port Charles. No, he would not give up so easily.

 

It wasn’t until he felt himself being lifted up and out of the water and the warm air off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands on his skin that he finally ceased his struggles. He’d fought as he’d been taught; he’d have made Sonny proud if the shark hadn’t driven him away. If nothing else, he’d died an honorable death.

 

As his eyes grew dim and sightless, he felt several sharp pricks and his mind grew fuzzy. He thought he heard Spinelli’s voice, soft and lilting calling to him from somewhere far away: “Stone Cold! You’re alive! You’re alive!”

 

_Not for much longer,_ was Jason’s last coherent thought, though the words, “I love you, Stone Cold,” stayed in his mind even as he lost the ability to remain conscious.

 

“When’s he gonna wake up?” asked a voice that Jason didn’t recognize, “huh? I want to meet him, Danno, he’s new, just like you and me. He looks big and scary and strong and kinda fierce, like Seal Steve.”

 

“Gracie,” another voice that Jason didn’t recognize scolded the younger sounding voice, “we’d best not be around when he wakes. He’s a shark, sharks eat anything that moves.”

 

“But I’ve never met a shark before,” Gracie said and Jason felt something prod him.

 

“And you’re not going to meet one now,” Danno said sharply, “stop poking him and get over here now. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

 

“No,” Grace whispered.

 

“Grace, you should listen to your father,” a deep voice boomed.

 

Jason wished that his eyes would cooperate, so that he could see what was going on, where he was and who Grace and Danno were. They didn’t sound like any type of fish he’d ever encountered, but he recognized the third voice as belonging to a seal. They were known to have deep voices. He liked seals, they were rather tasty.

 

“Don’t you even think of eating Seal Steve,” Grace said in a rather stern voice, and Jason realized that he must’ve spoken this thoughts, at least some of them aloud.

 

He groaned and then, finally, with what felt like an insurmountable amount of effort, managed to get his eyes to work, and was shocked by what he saw. He was surrounded by the oddest assortment of sea life to ever be assembled in one place. He had no idea what the little furry creatures with tails like stingrays, faces like miniature walruses, and hands like humans were called, but knew instinctively that the voices he’d heard when he’d still been out of it had come from them.

 

“What’s your name?” the seal barked.

 

Still slightly bewildered, Jason looked from one sea creature to the next before answering, “Jason.”

 

“Welcome to Honolulu City Aquarium’s newest exhibit, the Open Water Ocean Panorama,” the seal said. “I’m Steve, and the two otters, here, are Grace,” he pointed to the small one who smiled and waved, “and Danny,” he pointed to the bigger one who scowled at him and quickly tucked his daughter behind his back.

 

“Our wise walrus over there is Kamekona, rather our crack wise walrus,” Steve kept on speaking through Kamekona’s loud protest, “and the pretty little dolphin over yonder is Kono. The other, older, wiser dolphin, cousin to Kono, is Chin; he’s not nearly as fierce as he looks, though you don’t want to get on his bad side. Welcome to our ohana.”

 

Jason’s jaw dropped. He wondered if he was in some sort of crazy alternate reality.

 

“Ohana means family,” Grace helpfully provided. “You’re part of our family now, even if my Daddy says that sharks eat anything that moves. You won’t eat me, will you?”

 

“Uh, no,” Jason said, trying to back away from the otters, seal, walrus, and dolphins, but they had him effectively surrounded. He was trapped.

 

“I won’t eat you,” Jason promised when the little otter continued to stare at him.

 

Her father’s black eyes were trained on him and Jason had no doubt in his mind that, as small as that creature was, he would tear him apart caudal fin to snout if he even so much as looked sideways at the little otter.

 

“And I won’t eat your father or your Seal Steve or, well, I won’t eat anyone.”

 

“Do you promise?” Grace asked.

 

“I promise,” Jason said, hoping that he wouldn’t regret it.

 

Grace smiled and then darted for the surface of the water; her father cursed and quickly followed his daughter.

 

“Sorry about that,” the seal said, “she gets a bit excited whenever anybody new arrives. And Danny’s just a little overprotective of her at times.”

 

“She’s family,” Kono said, “we’re all protective of her, especially since Danny’s all she has left now, since their move to our aquarium.”

 

She was watching Jason warily, effectively keeping him in her sight at all times as she flitted about. He wondered what had happened to Grace’s mom, but was afraid to ask. Kono, even when smiling at him, looked like she wanted to do him some serious harm. She was not a dolphin he wanted to tangle with.

 

“You think this is the one that the bird was talking about?” she asked Chin who, after a long, assessing look at Jason, nodded.

 

“Yes, I do.”

 

“But, he called him something else, something more profound than…Jason,” Kono said.

 

“I believe that this is Stone Cold, the shark that Spinelli was telling us about. The one that he’s been pining after,” Chin’s voice resonated.

 

“Spinelli?” Jason couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “Is Spinelli here?” his heart flipped in his chest even as he cautioned himself not to hope.

 

“So, you _are_ Stone Cold,” Kono said, gently nosing him in the belly.

 

Jason kept himself in check even though he wanted to lash out at the dolphin and put her in her place. Something about the tightknit nature of these sea creatures told him that he’d better not cross any one of them lest he bring on the wrath of all of them.

 

“Where is he?” Jason asked. “Where’s Spinelli? Is he here? Is he at the aquarium too? What is an aquarium?”

 

And that’s something else that he can’t really wrap his mind around either, the thought of being stuck in only a small section of the ocean with a group of sea creatures that are natural enemies. What would he eat? How would any of them survive? How many more sea creatures were there in this _panorama_?

 

“An aquarium is a place where humans gather animals so that they can study them and gawk at them at their leisure. Most land animals are put in cages across the street in the Honolulu Aquarium, and most of our kind are put in what the humans refer to as aquariums. Up until a month ago, I lived in a small aquarium and performed tricks for the humans as did Kono, Kamekona and Steve. This newest experiment of the Honolulu Aquarium enables us to have access to the Pacific Ocean and provides makeshift habitats for those of us who need leave the water, but we’re prevented, by a human-made barrier, from going out into the open ocean,” Chin explained.

 

Jason wondered how old the dolphin was and how long he’d been with the aquarium. He also wondered if the aquarium had sanctioned shark-nabbing. If given the choice, he’d rather not be here. He’d rather be out in the open ocean.

 

“How come you were moved here?” he asked.

 

“There was some trouble with some of the others in the aquarium where I was being kept.” Chin looked away. “The aquarists thought it would be better for me to try something new.”

 

Jason wasn’t sure of what to make of that. It didn’t seem like Chin would have problems getting along with anyone.

 

“Why are all of these different species stuck in the same…” Jason searched for the word, “habitat?”

 

“I think because the newest department head, Denning, felt that it was important to study us in a more natural setting,” Chin offered.

 

“Oh,” Jason said. He was still confused.

 

He was completely out of his element here and had no idea what was going on.  All he knew was that he wanted to find Spinelli and get out of this aquarium place that would place differing species all in the same place. It seemed downright cruel to him and he was a cold-blooded shark.

 

“I need to find Spinelli,” Jason said, clearing his mind of everything else and focusing on the one thing that mattered to him, the one constant in a world that had turned topsy-turvy on him.

 

“What do you want with the bird?” Kono asked, nudging his pectoral with her nose.

 

Jason grit his teeth as he answered, “He’s my friend, I want to see him. Where is he?”

 

“A shark and a bird, friends?” Kono laughed, a tinkling sound that grated on Jason’s nerves. She spun around him, making him dizzy.

 

“Look, I don’t know who any of you are or even what an aquarium is, but I love Spinelli, and I know it’s crazy, believe me, I know it, but please just tell me where he is. Is he okay?” Jason couldn’t keep the desperation out of his voice.

 

“He really has it bad,” Kono said.

 

“Ease up on the shark, he’s a fish in love,” Kamekona said, he sounded laid back and Jason, while a bit weary of the rather large walrus, felt happy to have at least one of these strange creatures on his side. “Tell the bruddah about his bird before does something foolish and goes off on his own.”

 

“Fine,” Kono said, and Jason got the sense that she was pouting, but a stern look from Chin had her plastering a smile on her face. “Spinelli is up top, if you hurt him, I’m going to tear you apart, I don’t care if it’s rare to have your type on display in an aquarium or not.”

 

“Kono,” Chin’s voice was censorious.

 

“But cuz you remember what terrible shape Spinelli was in when he landed here, how long it took the aquarists to nurse him back to health,” Kono wheedled, “I don’t want to see him like that again.”

 

“Is he okay?” Jason asked, worried.

 

“He’s fine now,” Kono glared at him, “and he’d better remain that way.”

 

“What happened to him?” For two long weeks Jason thought that Spinelli had abandoned him because of his declaration of love, but what if he’d been hurt, almost dead, this whole time?

 

“He got caught up in a maelstrom, ended up getting stuck in some netting on a ship and, though he was able to free himself, he was in a weakened state. It was a miracle that he was able to make his way to safety,” Chin took up the explanation. “I heard the aquarists say that one of his wings was broken, but it has already healed. One of his legs is permanently damaged from his ordeal with the net. He almost lost it.”

 

“He’s been talking non-stop about you brah,” Kamekona said, and like the nimble dolphin, he nudged Jason’s belly with a fin. “Worried that you ain’t gonna forgive him for something.”

 

“I’ve got to see him,” Jason said and he made to push up to the surface only to be stopped by Steve. “Let me go, I’ve got to talk to Spinelli, let him know that I still love him.”

 

He thrashed in the water, fighting with the large seal. He opened his mouth, intent on taking a chunk out of the seal who kept getting in his way, but a sharp jab in the belly from Kono had him moaning in pain.

 

“Not now, you’ve got to wait until later, after the aquarium’s closed for the night,” Steve said.

 

Jason swished his tail dangerously. No one told him what to do, least of all a seal. Seals were pretty low on the seafood chain. He eyed the seal carefully, looking for an opening, some way to sneak past him so that he could keep his promise to the little otter. Yet another promise that he’d foolishly made.

 

“I need to see him now,” Jason said.

 

“You need to wait,” Steve’s voice had a steely edge to it that Jason had never heard coming from a seal before. “Once the aquarium closes for the evening, we’ll bring you to Spinelli. Promise.”

 

“I don’t see why I have to wait until this aquarium thing closes. What does that have to do with me and Spinelli?” Jason asked.

 

“Sharks and seagulls aren’t normally seen together,” Chin explained quietly, he gently nudged Jason’s pectoral fin, “the humans might harm you if they thought you were going to attack the bird.”

 

“I would never hurt Spinelli,” Jason argued. “Never.”

 

“I know,” Chin reassured him, “but the humans don’t. They provide daily rations for us that are specific to each of our unique diets; we need to stick to what they feed us. It keeps all of us happy and it keeps predators from eating their natural prey. If one of us is seen as aggressive or thought to be a threat to any of the others, the aquarists will remove the threat.”

 

“They’ll kill me if I talk to Spinelli?” Jason asked incredulously.

 

“No,” Chin shook his head, “they’ll remove you from this habitat and place you in quarantine. You’ll be by yourself, or with other, likewise ‘aggressive’ sharks.”

 

“So, I have to wait until the aquarium ‘closes’ to talk to Spinelli?” There was too much information for Jason to take in all at once. It was confusing. He just wanted to see Spinelli and tell him that he loved him.

 

“Yes,” Chin answered. He was still touching Jason’s pectoral fin, as though to keep him from bolting.

 

“And then you’ll take me to him?”

 

“Yes, we’ll take you to him,” Chin promised.

 

“Fine, I’ll wait.”

 

The hours felt like days, and the daily food ration that the aquarists gave him tasted like something taken from the very bottom of the ocean. It was unappealing, even if it was filling. He wanted something fresh, or at least something that tasted like fish.

 

Chin assured him that once he’d been in the new habitat for a couple of days, and the aquarists recorded his habits, the food rations would get better. They were checking to see if this was the best placement for him. Jason hoped that it was. He shuddered to think about living in one of the aquariums that Steve and Kamekona had tried to explain to him.  It seemed to him like it would be a mind-numbing hell.

 

When the aquarium was finally closed and the aquarists had finished their last round of check-ups, Jason soared to the surface of the ocean, the others following in his wake. He reluctantly followed Steve and Kono to a remote section of the habitat, where the open ocean met the barrier.

 

Tendrils of moonlight spilled onto the ocean’s calm surface, illuminating it and the various sea creatures within it. Jason’s heart hammered in his chest when a stray ray cast light on Spinelli. He looked thinner and world-weary. His left leg was mangled, and hung uselessly beneath him, yet he stood straight and tall, proud.

 

“Spinelli,” his voice was unrecognizable, choked up with emotion.

 

He wasn’t aware of the group of silent sentinels surrounding them: dolphins, walrus, and seal; he had only eyes for Spinelli.

 

“I thought I’d never see you again, that you,” his heart lurched in his chest, “that you could never return my love.”

 

“Stone Cold, I’m sorry I flew off like that,” Spinelli’s words came out in a rush, “I just couldn’t believe that you loved me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt.”

 

Spinelli opened his wings; Jason noted that his left wing seemed a little crooked. It caused him pain to think that his bird had been hurt, nearly killed, and he hadn’t been there to help him. Spinelli flew down to him and Jason stuck his pectoral fin out, welcoming the familiar warmth of the bird.

 

“I followed you the whole way, just stayed up above the clouds. And, when I realized I loved you too, and I wanted to find you and tell you, I got caught up in a storm. I thought I was going to die without being able to tell you that I loved you. I’m sorry, Stone Cold. I’m sorry that I hurt you, and I’ll understand if I’m too late, but I love you. No matter that you’re a shark and I’m a bird,” Spinelli’s melodic speech lulled the ache that had been in Jason’s heart the moment that Spinelli had taken off weeks ago, and he smiled.

 

“Spinelli, I love you too, and I don’t know what the future holds, if anything, for the two of us, but I don’t want a future without you,” Jason declared.

 

“Nor I without you,” Spinelli said, bumping his head affectionately against Jason’s side.

 

“’When desire, having rejected reason and overpowered judgment which leads to right, is set in the direction of the pleasure which beauty can inspire, and when again under the influence of its kindred desires it is moved with violent motion towards the beauty of corporeal forms, it acquires a surname from this very violent motion, and is called love.’ A human named Socrates said that,” Spinelli said. “I think it applies to us.”

 

“Maybe to you and Danno too, huh boss?” Kono whispered, nudging a rather sour looking seal. “Come on, let’s give these two some alone time,” she suggested, “I’m sure the big, bad shark can find his way home all by himself when he’s done.”

 

“Kono,” Chin’s voice held a warning note in it.

 

“You’ve got to lighten up cuz. Seriously.”

 

“If you aren’t back in a couple hours, I’m coming back to get you,” Steve warned before he and the others swam off.

 

“I thought they’d never leave,” Spinelli said, sighing, and Jason laughed.

 

“Me too,” he said.

 

“I’m not sure how this works, but I do know that I love you,” Spinelli said.

 

“Me either, how about if we learn this together?”

 

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

Content for the first time in ten years, Jason’s heart was filled with love and joy that he’d thought would never be possible for a shark like him.  Spinelli’s voice, he’d missed it sorely, lilted on the warm night air. Rich and melodic, it soothed his troubled spirit. The moon spread her silver cloak over them, an act of protection, even as she spotlighted their unique love.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks Suerum for encouraging this crazy little fic.


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